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Computers & Business Machines

Imagine the loss, 100 years from now, if museums hadn't begun preserving the artifacts of the computer age. The last few decades offer proof positive of why museums must collect continuously—to document technological and social transformations already underway.

The Museum's collections contain mainframes, minicomputers, microcomputers, and handheld devices. A Cray2 supercomputer is part of the collections, along with one of the towers of IBM's Deep Blue, the computer that defeated reigning champion Garry Kasparov in a chess match in 1997. Other artifacts range from personal computers to ENIAC, the Altair, and the Osborne 1. Computer components and peripherals, games, software, manuals, and other documents are part of the collections. Some of the instruments of business include adding machines, calculators, typewriters, dictating machines, fax machines, cash registers, and photocopiers

This binder contains the original design specifications for OS/2 NT, an operating system designed by Microsoft that eventually became Windows NT. In the late 1980s, Microsoft's 16-bit operating system, Windows, gained popularity, prompting IBM and Microsoft to end their OS/2 development partnership. Although Windows 3.0 proved to be successful, Microsoft wished to continue developing a 32-bit operating system completely unrelated to IBM's OS/2 architecture. To head the redesign project, Microsoft hired David Cutler and others away from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Unlike Windows 3.x and its successor, Windows 95, NT's technology provided better network support, making it the preferred Windows environment for businesses. These two product lines continued development as separate entities until they were merged with the release of Windows XP in 2001.

Data General was primarily a mini-computer company. But in 1984, it introduced the Data General-One (DG-1), a breakthrough personal computer laptop. The Data General One weighed nine pounds, ran MS-DOS, had dual 3 ½" diskettes, 79-key full stroke keyboard, 128 KB to 512 KB of RAM, and a monochrome LCD screen. It ran on a CMOS 80C88 processor. Unlike other "luggable" computers of the era, the DG-1 was light enough to carry on travel, but also powerful enough to emulate a desktop.

The DG-1 enjoyed only mediocre success. Its 3 ½" diskettes were slightly ahead of their time, and much popular software was not available in 3 ½" format. Adding to the problem, software copyright protection made copying into the 3 ½" format difficult. In addition, the DG-1 base price was relatively high at $2,895, and the real cost tended to be even higher, because users generally needed both more RAM and an external 5 ¼" drive to run disks from their desktop machines.

In 1987, Commodore introduced the Amiga 500, also known as the A500, as an inexpensive version of a 16 bit multimedia home computer. The goal was to provide a machine that would compete successfully against other 16 bit machines, just as the Commodore 64 had outsold many competitive 8 bit computers. The A500 did sell well against the Atari 520ST and was the low end successor of the Amiga 1000.

The A500 used a Motorola 6800 microprocessor that ran at 714 MHz and had 256 KB of ROM and 512 KB of RAM, which was expandable to 9MB. The Amiga 500 used a special system for its RAM configuration. It had 512 KB of Chip RAM, which could be accessed by the sound and video custom chip, and FAST RAM, which could only be accessed only by the CPU.

The Amiga 500 was followed by the Amiga 500+. It doubled the amount of the A500s Chip RAM to 1 MB. Both versions could be connected to a TV set or to a video monitor. The A500 computers were the best selling in the Amiga series. Besides doing well in the United States, they also were popular in Europe. Many users favored the Amiga because, in addition to being inexpensive, it had excellent graphics and sound capability for a computer of its era.

After the success of the IBM's business PC, IBM attempted to capture the home market with the IBM PCjr. The PCjr system was compact, low cost, and designed for applications related to learning, entertainment, and personal productivity.

The computer had an Intel 8088 microprocessor that ran at 4.77 MHz–faster than most systems on the market at the time. It 64 KB of RAM, which could be expanded to 256 KB and later to 720 KB with third party add-ons. It featured an internal 5 1/4" floppy drive and a wireless keyboard. King's Quest, a popular Adventure game of the 1980s, debuted on the PCjr.

Despite a flashy debut and a strong technology core, the PCjr flopped in the market. Consumers were not as attracted by the IBM name as business had been. Price was a major factor. The PCjr cost about the same as the Coleco Adam, but for the price, the Adam included two tape drives, a printer, and software. The PCJr was twice as expensive as the Commodore 64. With the exception of the Apple II, it was possible to purchase a complete system (computer, disk drive, and printer) from almost any of IBM's competitors for less money. However, criticism of the system focused on the "chiclet" keyboard. Similar to that of a pocket calculator, the small keys were cheap and difficult to use for touch typing. IBM later replaced this with a wireless conventional-sized keyboard. But it could only be used two or three feet away from the machine and drained batteries quickly.

Announced in November 1983 and available in March 1984, IBM sold the PCJr for $669 with 64 KB RAM, and $1,269 for 128 KB RAM. The more expensive system also included a floppy-disk drive. IBM discontinued the PCjr in March of 1985 after selling only approximately 270,000 units.

The Franklin Ace 1200 was one of the Franklin Corporation models of Apple II clones made for sale in the United States. It was an upgrade of the Franklin 1000. It was compatible with Apple II computers, but could also run the CP/M operating system.

The Franklin ACE 1200 had a MOS/Commodore 3502 microprocessor that ran at 1 MHz. It contained 48 KB of RAM and 16 KB of ROM and dual 5 ¼" floppy drives. The Ace 1200 came out between Apple II+ and the Apple //e. It included a CP/M card, a disk controller card, an 80 column card, and a dual serial/parallel card that was software interchangeable. The printer card caused problems because many applications did not recognize it.

The Franklin Ace 1200 was introduced in 1983 for the price of $2,200. The Franklin series was ended after Franklin lost a legal battle with Apple.

The Apple Lisa introduced the graphic user interface (GUI) into the Apple Computer Corporation's line of personal computers. Instead of using only text-based commands, users could employ pictorial icons displayed on the screen to initiate operations. Officially, "Lisa" stood for "Local Integrated Software Architecture," but it was also the name of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' daughter. This computer was also Jobs "baby," as he championed its creation and believed it would revolutionize personal computing. Apple spent four years and $50 million to develop it, but it turned out to be a commercial flop, in large part because of the $10,000 per unit cost. Only 80,000 were eventually sold. The Lisa is most important historically as the computer that pioneered concepts later used in the far more successful Macintosh.

One of the first programmable electronic calculators, this instrument was announced in 1964 and sold from 1965. It was designed by An Wang (1920-1990) and his associates. Wang, a native of Shanghai, immigrated to the United States after World War II, studied computer science at Harvard University, and worked at the Harvard Computation Laboratory. He started his own business in 1951, producing magnetic core memories and other electronic equipment on order. The LOCI or “logarithmic calculating instrument” was the first product marketed by the company. Two versions of the machine were announced: the LOCI I, which was not programmable, and the LOCI II, which was.

The desktop machine has nine digit keys arranged in an array, as well as a zero bar and a decimal point key. Depressing other keys changes the sign of the number, shifts the decimal point, shifts from the logarithmic to the work register, and shifts from the work to the logarithmic register. Further keys are for arithmetic operations, squares, square roots, inverse squares, inverse square roots, inverse logarithms, and clearance of various registers. To the right are controls for the decrement counter, the program counter, and the operation code. According to company advertising, the machine offers ten-digit precision in addition and subtraction and eight-digit precision in multiplication, division, exponentiation, root extraction, and logarithm computation. It has five storage registers of ten-digit capacity and a ten-digit display, plus a display for the sign of the answer. A cooling fan and a cord are at the back. The card reader attachment that plugs into the back holds program cards.

A tag on the front of the machine reads: LOCI-2. A tag on the back reads: ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS AND DEVICES (/) LOCI II (/) MODEL NO. 2AB (/) SERIAL NO. 2734 (/) TEWKSBURY, MASS. U.S.A. A paper tag on the back of the machine indicates that it was serviced 4/28/68, 9/12/68, and 2/9/71.

According to a 1964 flier, the machine was to sell for $4,750.00. Kenney says that the initial price was $6,500. Wang Laboratories would go on to sell the 300 series of calculators (from 1966) and the 700 series (from 1969), and to manufacture minicomputers and networked microcomputers.

For related objects and documents, see 1980.0096.02 through 1980.0096.10.

Compare 1980.0096.01 with the later 1983.0171.01 (a Wang Series 700 calculator), and the even later 2011.0022.01 (a Wang Series 600 calculator).

References:

There is an extensive discussion of the LOCI II at the website of the Old Calculator Museum. See:http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wangloci.html

Wang Laboratories, Inc., “LOCI-2 Open New Vistas to your Personal Computing . . .,” Tewksbury, Ma., 1964. This is 1980.0096.08. A similar leaflet describes the LOCI-1 and has museum number 1980.0096.07.

Invented in 1963, the mouse improved interactions with computers. However, not until 1984, when Apple Computers introduced the Macintosh and its graphical user interface, did the mouse become a standard computer component.

This bundle consists of about one hundred pieces of plastic-coated wire, each about 30 cm (11.8 in) long. Each piece of wire represents the distance an electrical signal travels in a nanosecond, one billionth of a second. Grace Murray Hopper (1906–1992), a mathematician who became a naval officer and computer scientist during World War II, started distributing these wire "nanoseconds" in the late 1960s in order to demonstrate how designing smaller components would produce faster computers.

The "nanoseconds" in this bundle were among those Hopper brought with her to hand out to Smithsonian docents at a March 1985 lecture at NMAH. Later, as components shrank and computer speeds increased, Hopper used grains of pepper to represent the distance electricity traveled in a picosecond, one trillionth of a second (one thousandth of a nanosecond).

Introduced in March of 1983, the CompuPro S-100 system was one of the last and most expensive CP/M systems that appeared. It was a very flexible system that could accommodate a wide range of S-100 bus cards built by a wide range of manufacturers.

Compupro itself manufactured a large number of S-100 cards. Its S-100 system could be fitted with either 8-bit and/or 16-bit processor cards. One of the best-selling cards was a dual processor 8808 + 8085. This allowed running both 8 bit CP/M and 16 bit MP/M software at a speed of 2 or 5 MHz in a multitasking environment.

The CompuPro S-100 included several cards from 8088 + 8085 to Z80 to 80286 at a speed of 4 MHz and up. There are 2 8"floppy disk drives. The three major options for operating systems were CP/M, CP/M-86, and MP/M. The machine had 16 KB of RAM, which could be expanded to 1 MB. Depending on how the computer was configured, its price ranged from around $5,500 up to almost $20,000.